The invention relates to a lamp holder, and more particularly, to a lamp holder that is detachably mounted to a support structure, such a stepladder, and is capable of holding one or more lamps, such as fluorescent lamps, in a generally vertically disposed orientation.
In the past, two basic approaches have been utilized to change ceiling fluorescent lamps or ballasts both of which have meaningful drawbacks. One approach requires two persons to change fluorescent lamps or ballast wherein one person stands on a stepladder and connects or disconnects the fluorescent lamps or ballast, and a second person stands on the ground so as to receive the old fluorescent lamps or ballast and hand new fluorescent lamps to the person on the stepladder. As can be appreciated, the use of two people to change fluorescent light lamps or ballast has a major drawback in that such a two-person operation is very labor intensive. Another drawback is that there exists the chance during the handling of the fluorescent lamps between the two persons that the lamps may either be dropped and broken or hit against the side of the stepladder and broken.
Another basic approach to changing fluorescent lamps or ballast requires only one operator, however, since the new lamps, and ballast, as well as the old lamps, must be placed on the ground next to the stepladder, the person changing the fluorescent lamps or ballast must make numerous trips up and down the stepladder. Such a process is both tiresome to the person changing the fluorescent lamps or ballast as well as very time consuming. Although only one person is used to make the changes, in view of the numerous trips up and down the stepladder that are required, such a process is again very labor intensive and this constitutes a major drawback. Further, operator fatigue as well as a possibility of breakage due to either dropping the fluorescent lamp or hitting it against the stepladder during the numerous trips up and down the stepladder constitute meaningful drawbacks.
It is thus apparent that it would be very desirable to provide a device for use in the changing of a lamp, such as a fluorescent lamp and especially a fluorescent lamp in a ceiling, that provides labor savings by requiring only one person to change the lamps or ballast and by not requiring this person to make numerous trips up and down the stepladder during the changing operation. It would also be desirable to provide such a device that provides increased safety during the changing operation in that the opportunity is reduced for lamps to be either dropped or hit against the stepladder by providing easy access to the lamps for the person while standing on the stepladder and by providing adequate support for new lamps to be installed in the fixture or old lamps removed from the fixture.